Tourism. Trends. Tactics. Technology.

April 24, 2018

As of last month, four New York cabbies had committed suicide because of mounting financial pressures brought about by the explosion of ride-sharing platforms such as Uber and Lyft. And, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of City officials.

Tightly regulated, cabbies used to fight for a limited number of "medallions" that would give them the right to drive a taxi and make $200 a day. Only 13,600 medallions are issued...but, with 63,000 disruptive ride-sharing drivers now on the streets, many cabbies say they're lucky to make $50 a day.

Disruption. It's all shits and grins until somebody shoots themselves on the steps of City Hall.

While we love the convenience and experience of ride-sharing, we can't ignore that there is a dark side to disruption.

November 20, 2017

Feasibility is at the core of every hotel development. Will the property be able to be sustainable, given other factors in the marketplace?

So, you look at historic, present and future demand, at the competition, the budget of the Destination Marketing Organization, the anticipated growth of the region's economy and a number of other markers.

Twenty-some years ago, as Madison was looking to build its Frank Lloyd Wright designed Convention Center, feasibility experts cautioned that the simultaneous development of an adjacent headquarter hotel could spell disaster for one of the other existing downtown hotels. Wait three years, they said, until the market demand stabilizes. And, because we cared for the hotels that had been our partners for decades, we did.

August 15, 2017

In the wake of the President's tepid and flip-floppy response to this weekend's tragic events in Charlottesville, people and companies are starting to say "no mas." And, while it's not nearly enough, it is definitely a promising start.

And, Airbnb, the disruptive hospitality platform that the industry loves to hate, has aggressively moved to block consumers tied to hate groups from the lodging options it represents. In the days before Charlottesville, Airbnb was performing background checks to block people it believed were attending the Unite the Right rally, specifically those who were organizing large events on a neo-Nazi website. It reportedly also cancelled reservations and has removed some sympathetic homes from its site.

Which, of course, brings up the whole "you can't deny service to someone because of their lifestyle choices" challenge.

Sure you can. Indeed, States have adopted such laws, allowing, for instance, bakeries to refuse making a wedding cake for a gay couple. Which is childish and stupid...and all the more underscores that something as crucial for our future as blocking hate from gaining a greater foothold in our lives is the noble path.

March 21, 2017

As Austin takes a deep breath after hosting the world at SXSW, political leaders will need to take a serious look at the brand hit the city took this year in the wake of shooing away Uber and Lyft.

Last year, Austin politicos proposed a policy that would require sharing economy transportation drivers to be fingerprinted. Uber and Lyft warned that, if implemented, they would decamp. And, when the measure passed, they made good on the threat.

So, getting around Austin this past week wasn’t nearly as easy (or as cool) as it was last year. Sure there were local ridesharing start-ups but, according to a writer for the Federalist, “Every festival-goer I spoke to this year, including founders of Silicon Valley startups, expressed dismay at the local ridesharing options and the absence of Uber and Lyft. They all reported rideshares that charged them but never showed up, charged outrageous fees for short rides or apps that continually crashed, requiring them to delete and re-download.”

In a world where image and consumer reviews are everything, what will this do to Austin’s image as a hotbed of innovation and creativity? SXSW isn’t just an event…it’s where the biggest tech brands and the international media descend for 10 days. And, if the cool kids can’t score a ride with a cool service, what does that say about how cool a city is?

I get that there are still significant public safety and tax implications with the sharing economy…and that Uber, in particular, has been a playground bully throughout the past few years. But, in the face of the international black-eye Austin just received, government needs to realize that blocking the sharing economy and passing bathroom bills hurt more than the bottom line.

January 12, 2017

It was just a year ago that a number of CEOs of the major hotel brands dismissed sharing economy plays like Airbnb as easily absorbed into the existing demand for overnight lodging. While we all hoped that would be true, I always sensed a little hubris mixed into those predictions.

October 31, 2016

Increasingly, Destination Marketing Organizations are assuming the role of ensuring a more complete destination experience for the visitors they lure. In most cases, this is a response to an absence of a private sector answer to a consumer need. For example, when Visit Quad Cities received repeated requests for bike rentals from visitors, they acquired bikes to supply the need.

But, what if there were private sector bike rental companies already providing such a service?

Over the weekend, I saw an Op-Ed piece from an entrepreneur that supplies bike rentals in Cocoa Beach FL, challenging the allocation of Room Tax revenue to develop a bike-share program in the destination. The TDC there has apparently allocated over $100,000 to create an option for visitors to bike the destination.

The existing private sector provider certainly has an axe to grind. The County is using tax dollars to "compete" with his business model. At the same time, the entrepreneur might not be in a position to deliver a destination-wide solution. I have absolutely no idea who here is right and who is less right. Nobody here is wrong, as everyone is looking to ensure visitors a great experience.

But, it is a signal to us all in the DMO space. Be very clear that the private sector doesn't have a destination-wide solution before stepping in. And, if there isn't a destination-wide solution (but a small solution exists), look for ways to enable entrepreneurs to grow to fill that need.

Add to that list Joshua Tree CA (population 7,000), where the number of visitors to this fragile State Park ecosystem (and community) has been historically constrained by the limited number of hotel rooms nearby. However, with the availability of an additional 200 vacation homes on Airbnb (and even more on other platforms like VRBO), this once sleepy town is being overrun by more visitors than the infrastructure can effectively handle. And, the home buying market has all but dried up because owners who once would have placed their houses on the market are now retaining them as income generators.

One resident reports that of the ten homes on her street, five are full-time rental properties. And, that's just wrong.

As I've said before, we really need to begin having a serious discussion about a DMO's role in the sustainability of the visitor economy in the face of an increasingly deregulated society.

Turns out that Hertz is renting Uber and Lyft drivers the cars that it is rotating out of service in the belief that it will make more money that way than if it just sold the outdated vehicles to the used car market.

Which may well be true...but, if Hertz makes it easier for more Uber and Lyft drivers to enter the shared ride market, doesn't that turn this all into a Catch 22.

And, as Uber and Lyft drivers can now rent their ride at an insane rate, they won't be buying as many cars, disrupting yet another industry.

May 23, 2016

Depending upon the way you look at the research surrounding Airbnb, you either see them as wildly disruptive or nothing to get too worked up about (or something in between). For, as revealed in a recent edition of Skift, the statistics (even from the same study) are all over the place. Take the recent Pew research on the sharing economy:

OMG! 72% of Americans have used a shared economy service!

But, only 11% have used Airbnb...while 53% have never even heard of it.

Which begs the question: How can the street value a company at $25.5 billion when the majority of us, confronted with its name, say "huh?"